front end shakes when braking

2004 DODGE STRATUS
158,000 MILES • 2.4L • 4 CYL • FWD • AUTOMATIC
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BRIAN HELDT
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My car drives pretty good until I have to apply the brakes. That is when I can feel a fair amount of shaking coming from front end only. The steering wheel does not shake only the frond end and only while braking. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Jan 2, 2017 at 11:38 AM
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CARADIODOC
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Be aware a lot of replacement rotors come from China now. There's nothing wrong with their quality, but when we make parts from cast iron, we set them aside for three months to "age" before they get their final machining. The Chinese cast 'em, machine 'em, pack 'em, and ship them right away, then they age on your car. It is common for them to develop the same pulsation after a few months. The shop that replaced them should be willing to do a light machining on them at no charge to true them up. That usually only has to be done once.

You might also check out this article for more information:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/steering-wheel-shakes-when-accelerating-or-braking
Dec 1, 2020 at 10:08 PM
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KASEKENNY
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This is pretty typical when you have warped rotors which happens from heat due to excessive hard braking or normal wear. Basically the metal heats and cools as the brakes are used and after enough time the metal just warps so they require replacement or turned if you have enough metal left on the thickness of the rotor.

I attached the info needed to replace the brakes as you will want to replace the pads if you replace rotors because the pads already have a wear pattern from the old rotors so you want to start fresh. If the pads are new you can sand them flat but that is not recommended in most cases.

Here is a guide that will help:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-replace-front-brake-pads-and-rotors-fwd

Lastly here is the process out of the manual for the replacement of these which will help as well. Thanks
Dec 2, 2020 at 11:39 AM
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